Today is the birthday of Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson, born January 21, 1824, at Jackson's Mill, Clarksburg, Virginia, now West Virginia.
“A man he is of contrasts so complete that he appears one day a Presbyterian deacon who delights in theological discussion and, the next, a reincarnated Joshua. He lives by the New Testament and fights by the Old. Almost 6 feet in height and weighing about 175 pounds, he has blue eyes, a brown beard and a commonplace, somewhat trusty appearance” (Lee’s Letters). Source
D.H. Hill on Jackson's faith:
"Jackson had been baptized in the Episcopal Church, but not confirmed. His leanings, however, were toward that church. One day I read him the definition of sin given in the Assembly's "Shorter Catechism." Its brevity and comprehensiveness impressed him very much. Knowing his great admiration for sententiousness, I read him the answers to several other questions. He became so much interested that he borrowed the little book, which he said he had never seen nor heard of before. He kept it a week or more, and on returning it said that he had read it very carefully, that it was a wonderful production, a model of fine English, as well as of sound theology. I then gave him the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church. This, too, he had never seen. He kept it a much longer time than the catechism, and compared the foot-notes with his Bible. He professed himself pleased with everything except predestination and infant baptism. His scruples about the latter did not last very long. In the last years of his life he was regarded as a fatalist; but his repugnance to predestination was long and determined."
Jackson Anecdotes:
After six tremendous Union assaults on his position on August 29, 1862, Stonewall Jackson’s troops still held Stony Ridge. That night a friend told Jackson, “We have won this battle by the hardest kind of fighting.” Jackson replied, “No, no, we have won it by the blessing of Almighty God !’
Remarks by Jefferson Davis at the dedication of Jackson Monument
VMI Archives Jackson page
Wikipedia article on Stonewall Jackson
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